precipice

UK/ˈpɹɛsɪpɪs/US/ˈpɹɛsɪpɪs/

nounC1Occasional — familiar, but not everyday · #10,674 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: precipices

A precipice is a sheer drop, or the edge of disaster. Stand on a precipice.

The figurative use is now commoner in writing than the literal one. The Latin behind it is headlong, which is what happens to anybody who goes over.

Definitions of precipice

1nounprecipiceA sheer drop, or the edge of disaster.C1
“The path ran along a precipice for about half a mile.”

precipice is a drop.

Where it comes from

Latin praecipitium means a steep place, from praeceps, headlong, from prae plus caput, a head.

Proto-Indo-European
*keh₂p-
Proto-Indo-European
*kap- — head
Latin
praecipitium — a steep place
Middle French
precipice
English, today
precipice

Built from

praeceps · Latin — steep
caput · Latin — head
capiō · Latin — take

First attested in 1598, from Middle French precipice, from Latin praecipitium (“a steep place”), from praeceps (“steep”), from prae + caput (“head”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European kap- (“head”). Distantly related to precept through Latin praecipiō (“to teach”), from prae + capiō (“take”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European kap- (“to hold; to seize”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

← Vocabulary